Saturday, April 16, 2005

WASHINGTON - House Republicans brushed aside the Democrats' latest attempt to rewrite ethics rules on Thursday, one day after a closed-door discussion that touched on the perils of political arrogance.

The vote was 218-195, along party lines, to kill the proposal by Rep. Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record), the House Democratic leader.

The California Democrat swiftly issued a statement accusing Republicans of showing "allegiance to the ethics standards of Tom DeLay." DeLay, the majority leader, is battling charges of misconduct.

Republicans held ranks one day after a few lawmakers expressed concern at a closed-door meeting over the party's handling of the ethics issue.

Several officials said Rep. Dan Lungren of California cautioned fellow Republicans about using power arrogantly, invoking the example of former House Speaker Jim Wright and the Democratic majority he once led. Wright was brought down in an ethics scandal in 1989.

These officials said Lungren did not mention DeLay in his remarks.

Officials said Rep. Joel Hefley (news, bio, voting record) of Colorado, former head of the ethics panel, told fellow Republicans at the same session that the issue should properly be handled in a bipartisan way.

Rep. Zack Wamp of Tennessee urged fellow lawmakers not to dig in their heels on the issue but to be prepared to "pivot and pray," these officials said.

The reference to prayer recalled the controversy that roiled the House in 2000, they said. At the time, some Democrats quietly accused Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois of anti-Catholicism following the selection of a Protestant chaplain from a list of candidates that had been prepared by a bipartisan committee.

In response, Hastert unilaterally installed his own choice — a Chicago priest — as the first Catholic chaplain in House history.

Officials also said Rep. Anne Northup (news, bio, voting record) of Kentucky told fellow Republicans that her husband had once been the target of a baseless allegation, and she made an apology after deciding that even the appearance of wrongdoing warranted one.

Hastert and New York Rep. Tom Reynolds, among others, responded by telling fellow Republicans that Democrats were using the ethics committee for political gain. Hastert had earlier made a strong defense of DeLay, and he warned lawmakers that they, too, might become targets of what he described as an attack that was political at its core.

The officials who described Wednesday's meeting said it marked a departure from previous closed-door discussions, which they described largely as consisting of a series of speeches in defense of the embattled majority leader.

They spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the rules of secrecy that govern the weekly sessions of the rank and file. The lawmakers whose comments were described either declined comment or could not be reached.

For the most part, several officials said the closed-door discussions did not touch on DeLay. Even so, the tenor of the comments suggested that some Republicans are eager to end the months-long deadlock over House ethics rules that was sparked by charges against the majority leader.

Officials also noted that while a deadlock over committee rules persists, the Republican chairman, Rep. Doc Hastings (news, bio, voting record) of Washington, had offered a concession to Democrats at a meeting on Wednesday.

Democrats on the panel quickly rejected it as insufficient.

"It does not cure the partisan aspect of this whole exercise," said Rep. Alan Mollohan (news, bio, voting record) of West Virginia, the senior Democrat on the committee.

While Republicans hold a majority of seats on most House committees, the ethics panel is comprised of five members of each party.

The ethics committee admonished DeLay three times last year, and in January, Republicans forced through a revised set of rules on the opening day of the congressional session. Democrats, claiming Republicans were merely shielding DeLay from further scrutiny, retaliated by refusing to allow the panel to organize for business.

In the interim, DeLay has been the target of a steady stream of attacks by the Democrats and faces scrutiny in the news media over overseas travel.

DeLay denies any wrongdoing, and Republicans generally have argued strenuously that the Democratic attacks charges are evidence of political opportunism by a party desperate to return to power.

On the vote on Pelosi's call for a bipartisan commission, Hefley and Rep. Jim Leach (news, bio, voting record) of Iowa were the only Republicans to side with the Democrats. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Bill's Comment: Another failed desperado tactic by the Democrats. The leaders of that clan have more skeletons in their closet than what Majority Leader Tom DeLay will ever have.

SALT LAKE CITY - A man accused of killing his wife after she learned that he lied about getting into medical school pleaded guilty to murder Friday.

Prosecutors say Mark Hacking shot his wife in the head as she slept, then threw 27-year-old Lori Hacking's body in a trash bin. Volunteers scouring a landfill found her decomposed remains about three months later.

Prosecutors said the sentencing range will be from six years to life.

Hacking, a hospital orderly, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. He also was charged with obstructing justice by disposing of the body, the gun and a bloody mattress, but those charges were dropped as part of Friday's deal.

Sentencing was scheduled for June 6.

Prosecutors were unable to determine if Lori Hacking was five weeks' pregnant, as she had told friends. That meant the husband could not be charged with a capital crime.

Lori Hacking's colleagues at a Wells Fargo brokerage house have said she broke down sobbing after learning of her husband's deception. She became aware of the lies after making calls to school administrators in North Carolina, where Hacking claimed he was enrolled for medical school. Hacking had also lied about graduating from the University of Utah.

Mark Hacking, 28, entered his plea after his lawyer showed no sign of preparing for a trial. The lawyer, Gilbert Athay, filed no motions, asked for none of the usual hearings that precede trials, and contacted no prosecution witnesses — leading many to believe a plea deal was in the works.

That became more apparent when Judge Denise Lindberg scheduled another murder trial for the time Monday when she was to preside over Hacking's trial.

Mark Hacking was last in court Oct. 29, when he pleaded not guilty to all four charges.

Hacking had reported his wife missing to police, saying she had not returned from a morning jog in a Salt Lake park.

The news prompted a weeklong search for the former stockbroker's assistant by thousands of volunteers — a search that echoed another sensational Salt Lake crime, the kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart from her bedroom.

Hacking was in a psychiatric hospital after suffering a breakdown when he confessed to his brothers that he killed his wife using a .22-caliber firearm.